“15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the GARDEN OF EDEN to tend and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Gen. 2:15-17).
The GARDEN OF EDEN was created by God in the beginning when He created man. It was a paradise park-like setting with no sin or curse of any kind. It is like a protected game reserve that is fenced, hedged, and is a guarded place where only clean animals dwelt. God created Adam from the earth outside of the Garden, then He put Adam in the Garden, and then created Eve from one of his ribs (Gen. 2:7-8, 21-22). The Garden was where Adam and Eve enjoyed being in God’s presence. When they disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, Adam and Eve instantly experienced spiritual death, and would have physically been put to death that very day, and been condemnation under the wages of their sin to eternal death in the Lake of Fire if there had not been any atonement for their sin. However, that very day God Himself slayed animals as a provisional covering/atonement for their sin. Those animals substitutionally died in their place, God Himself starting the animal blood sacrificial system, provisionally forgiving them as they put their faith in the promised SEED God told them would come, until that perfect Lamb of God would come in the future Who would pay for and remove the sin (propitiate), not just cover it, for all those who put their saving faith in Him.
“12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12).
God then drove Adam and Eve out of the GARDEN OF EDEN, for them, and all of their offspring, to live in their fallen spiritually separated slaves to sin state for whatever allotted time each would have for their life. If they rejected to put saving faith in the promised coming SEED (Gen. 3:15), they upon physical death they would then go disembodied to the “torments” side of Hades/Sheol. If they did put their saving faith in the promised Messiah to come, they would go to the “paradise” side of Hades/Sheol when they died (Luke 16:19-26). These faithful believers would wait to be redeemed from their sin through forward looking faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who would atone for the sins of all faithful believers (past and future) with His shed blood sacrifice on the cross in AD 30.
“15But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many (all faithful believers).” (Rom. 5:15).
All of mankind are born spiritually separated from God, and with each person’s sin, are under the condemnation/wages of sin to eternal death/separation in the Lake of Fire because they are the offspring of fallen Adam born with a fallen nature in slavery to sin, and they all sin (Rom. 5:12). They all must also experience physical death so no one is able to live in this human life forever. However, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come and paid the penalty/wages of sin and eternal death to fully and completely forgive and save all who put their saving faith in Him.
“21For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).
For a more in-depth study see the related full “Study Series”: